A man confronts a soldier outside the White House to protest the death in Minneapolis police custody of George…Read More
WASHINGTON: The first signs of a militarized American garrison state is unfolding in Washington DC as a battalion of troops in battle gear spread out near the White House on Wednesday evening even as the area rang out with peace songs from hundreds of protestors seeking an end to racial inequality and discrimination, following the murder by a white policeman of an African-American man in Minneapolis ten days ago.
The military deployment against growing protests, made at the instance of US President Donald Trump, a self-confessed militarist who believes in force, came even as his former defense secretary James Mattis, a decorated veteran, blasted him for Nazi tactics of dividing the people. Mattis warned that militarizing response to legitimate protests “sets up a conflict—a false conflict— between the military and civilian society,” while arguing one “should not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers.”
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us,” Mattis said in a strongly worded statement that castigated the Trump administration for its description of cities as “battlespaces”